Forever and ever 2. The adventure starts now.

Part 37.

I didn't feel well, not knowing where Tom was, nor when he would be back, but I was still pissed off, and tired at the same time.
Needing a bath real bad. Not only to clean myself, but also to relax.

My muscles were so tense that I almost had a cramp when I got into the tub. Was lucky the hot water quickly softened me up again and let me take a deep breath in and out for the first time in a long time. That finally cleared my mind a little.

Maybe Tom was right, and I had indeed given him false hope. But that still didn't give him the right to tell me to turn down my role because of it. I guess I just needed to let off some steam, as did he, but eventually we would find a solution. We always found a solution.

My mobile phone rang on the wooden stool next to me, and when I saw it was Ciara, I didn't even bother to answer it. I really wasn't in the mood to talk right now. But just as the phone stopped ringing, it rang again, this time it was Harry's number.

I thought that was strange, because if even Harry was calling me, I doubted it was because Ciara wanted to chat. There had to be more to it than that. So I answered the call, having dried my fingers on the towel next to me.
"Y/N!" Ciara yelled, panic in her voice as I heard horns honking and my son crying in the background.

"Parker tripped and has a laceration. We are on the way to St. Mary's Hospital!" Harry interjected, just as panicked as Ciara. His voice trembling, loud as he tried to give me all the details as quickly as possible.

I was grateful but my heart had stopped, I wasn't sure if the blood was still flowing normally through my veins. It even took me a moment to answer, not able to process what they just told me. But then, without any hesitation, I said. "On my way!" And hang up. The next 30 minutes were a total blur of chaos. I jumped out of the bathtub and got dressed. I ran to the car and looked up the directions to the hospital. It was the nearest, thank God, so it didn't take me 14 minutes to get there, even though the sat nav said 17 minutes. While driving, I tried to reach Tom at every red light, but every time the phone rang, I was sent straight to voicemail. It had no use, so I eventually gave up and just tried to be there for Parker myself.

When I arrived, I was a crying mess. Afraid for my son, who had just turned three, and even some tears of anger flew down my cheeks. How could Tom possible be so stubborn when his child was being in the hospital?!
It was the first time he had had such an injury. Sure, scraped knees and scratches on the palms of his hands appeared from time to time, but a facial laceration? My heart was bleeding.

I rushed into the hospital, looking for Parker, and was glad to see Harry standing right outside the room he was in.
"Is he okay?" I asked, sniffing my nose.
"He's fine." He said, looking totally exhausted. Then I looked over his shoulder, and there was my son, sitting on one of the hospital beds, just having had a plaster put over his eyebrows by the nurse who was kneeling in front of him.
"Is that alright?" She asked. He nodded, smiling at her. His cheeks red from his own tears, which had already dried, but he smiled bravely, as if he had no blood running down his cheek, already crumbling off because even the blood had been a while since it ran.

I pushed past Harry and entered the room just as the nurse left Parker's sight.
"Mommy!" He yelled. He wanted to get up and run into my arms, but I was quicker and knelt down to him. Everything so as not to strain him. I immediately took him in my arms, pressed kisses to his head and was more careful than ever not to touch his eyebrow.

Happy tears running down my cheeks that he was being fine.
"Oh sweetface!" I sighed. "Mommy was so worried!" I held his shoulders as I tried to look into his eyes, to check if everything was alright with him. Then he pointed to the plaster and said "it's just a few stitches mommay!" With a little giggle that followed. He was so brave, he didn't know that himself yet, but soon he would find out. I was sure about that.
"Look at you!" I said, throwing him a smile. I ran my fingertip gently over the plaster, feeling the warmth he exuded. "How did this happen? Mhm?" I took a very close look, trying to imagine how he managed to get himself hurt like that.

"Oh Y/N." Ciara sighed in relief as she entered the room, two cans of Fanta in her hand, which she must have gotten from a vending machine.
"I'm so sorry, I swear, I've taken car-"
"Ciara it's alright! No worries." Of course I was not impressed by my son's injury, but it could have happened to anyone and was definitely not Ciara's fault. For now, all I cared about was that my little man was doing well.
"He tripped over the carpet and fell with his head straight on the sharp edge of the glass table. Harry has already bought pads to stick on the corners so that this won't happen again! I'm so sorry!" I really wasn't angry. Sharp edges were often a problem, but the edge protectors for furniture were really a must in the household with toddlers.

"I'm glad. Thanks Ciara." She nodded, still worry in her eyes. Then she gave Parker a can of Fanta, offered me one too, which I declined, and then left the room to give us privacy.
"Where's daddy?" He asked, looking around with a pout on his little mouth.
"At home." I said, knowing damn well I had no idea where he was.

I spent the next five minutes trying to distract Parker. He still had to stay in the hospital for another hour, just to be on the safe side, and it was getting really late, certainly already 1am at this point.
"Can we have waffles tomorrow?"
Parker whispered, the kind of whisper when children say something forbidden and don't want anyone to know. Made me smile a little, but he was just afraid to hear a no coming from my mouth.
"Of course we can."
At that moment I heard loud running, heavy breathing and muffled curses outside the room, shortly afterwards "Where is he?!" Coming from Tom's lips.

I turned around, looking through the glass window in which I saw Tom, his fist fisting Harry's collar, eyes all red.
"Woah- he's in there." Harry grimaced, his hand trying to wag Tom's breath away from him, while he pointed to the room we were in. Tom immediately dropped him, wanting to enter the room before Harry stopped him, holding onto his wrist.
"Might want to leave this here before you go in there?" He pointed to something Tom was holding, but the window wasn't that big, and I had no idea what Harry meant until Tom shoved a glassy brown bottle into his arms, stomping into our room just a second later.

"Hey! Hey little buddy!" He said, closing the door behind him. He still rubbed his hands nervously over his trousers, sniffled his nose and then knelt on the floor next to me. With a single tear in his left eye and some bloody veins already having bursted inside of them, did he hug Parker just as I had hugged him. One hand on the back of his head and one on the neck as he placed endless kisses on the hairline.
"I got stitches!" Parker told him all proudly. It was only then, I realised why Harry had just tried to get rid of any smell that came his way. Tom had drunk again, and definitely nothing weak this time.

He gave Parker a wry smile, trying not to show concern, even though I saw his hand trembling on his knee.
"Yeah." Tom said. "I can see." He giggled, I couldn't help but look at him. I also asked myself if he was all right. Then he turned his head towards me and gave me a look that didn't last more than 0.1 second, but at least I knew he had noticed me.
"You have given me quite a shock, do you know that?" Parker shook his head, fingers clawing at the bed. "I think that deserves a punishment, eh?" Then he raised his eyebrows, afraid he had done something wrong. Was his daddy serious? Would he be punished now?
"How about..." Tom put his hand to his chin, pondering, looking up as if he were thinking. And then, all of a sudden, he started tickling Parker's belly. "Extra ticklers and hugs for a whole day!" Parker's giggles flowed through the room, filling everyone's ears like music. Even Ciara and Harry had to stare through the window to see what was going on.
"Dadday!" Parker scolded, trying to stop his Daddy who now took him into yet another hug. Like a cuddle monster, he couldn't let go. I caught him closing his eyes to enjoy his son's embrace, and then he took another deep breath with tears in his eyes when he finally let him go.
Yeah... I had watched him, not only because I was worried, but also because he was the best father, and deep down I knew I could count on him. When it got quiet and Tom had nothing more to say, his hand still shaking, and lazy circles starting to form under his eyes, I placed my hand on top of his rough knuckles and gave his fingers a gentle squeeze. Managed to get him to look at me, and this time, for longer than 0.1 second. He looked at me, and then it took him a little while to form a weak smile, but I knew that was his way of telling me we could make it work. We would make it work.